Nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box

ABSTRACT

Nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box includes a light box, a nonlinear motion set, a rotation set, a cartridge and a compartment. The nonlinear motion set is with a dual guiding rails or a mono guiding rail to deliver the image capture device from top shots to side shots. In addition, the rotation set is provided for rotating the image capture device. Next, the cartridge carries the rotation set, and driven by the nonlinear motion set to perform the nonlinear motion. And, the compartment is configured inside the rotation set to sit and fasten the image capture device.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is filed as a Continuation-in-Part of patent application Ser. No. 11/339,448, filed 26 Jan. 2006, currently pending.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an automatic nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In general, the top shots or side shots taken of an image capture device inside a light box always done by manual or with a tripod to perform the photography for commodities, which not only takes time but also inaccuracy, if not go through the photography automation. For the photography automation implementation that an image capture device must be transported between the top shots and the side shots location. And, the image capture device must also be rotated for targeting to the photographed object.

In the market, there got a robotic arm to carry the image capture device for performing a circular motion in a room. However, the lengthy of the robotic swing arm that holding the heavy of rotation set, image capture device and its compartment are not suitable for swinging in the light box. And, the over loaded robotic arm results in reducing its durability. The present invention adopts a guiding rail to improve the disadvantages hereinabove, and the image capture device performs a nonlinear motion on a guiding rail in the light box can be realized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of the present invention.

One purpose of the present invention is to provide an image capture device, which utilizes the guiding rails with a curved and a linear shape to conduct the top shots and side shots in the limited space of the light box. And, a 3D-turntable is controlled by a computer and configured at the floor of the light box to create a playing file of a 3D simulated image for image communication purpose. Furthermore, the photography of image if using a guiding rail with a round arc shape only, then a real 3D-image can be composed from detailing mathematical calculation for machining purpose eventually.

To achieve the purposes mentioned above, one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box, which including: a light box, a nonlinear motion set guided by a dual guiding rail or by a mono guiding rail, a rotation set, a cartridge and a compartment of the image capture device. The nonlinear motion set includes the nonlinear guiding rails, the stepping/servo motors, the main drive pulleys, the idle wheels, the idle pulleys, the timing belts and a cartridge. And, a rotation set includes a compartment of the image capture device, the stepping/servo motor, the timing belt and the idle wheels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the accompanying advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated and becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed descriptions, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram illustrating automatic nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure inside a light box according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by using the belt driven on the dual guiding rails according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by using the belt driven on the dual guiding rails according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram illustrating a cartridge and the rollers thereon according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a front view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by using gravity force on the dual guiding rails according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by using gravity force on the dual guiding rails according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a front view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by overhead hanging under a mono guiding rail according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by overhead hanging under a mono guiding rail according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by side extended of a mono guiding rail according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram illustrating automatic nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure inside the light box according to one embodiment of the present invention. A computer 20 utilizes USB cables 21, 22 to control a control card 40 and an image capture device 30. Meanwhile, a power source 50 via the power cables 51,52,53,54 to provide the power for an image capture device 30, a control card 40, a light box 10 and the computer 20. And, the control card 40 receives the commands from the computer 20 to transfer the electrical power and controlling signals to the nonlinear motion sets 100,200 and a rotation set 70 for accomplishing the nonlinear motion and rotation motion in the light box 10. In addition, the computer 20 can be replaced by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to control the automatic nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure in the light box 10.

According to the spirit of the present invention, the computer controls the 3D-turntable can rapidly and automatically generate the image files to display the 3D simulated images in the computer, for example, a GIF file format for image communication purpose. Furthermore, the photography of image if using a guiding rail with a round arc shape only, a real 3D-image can be composed from detailing mathematical calculation for machining purpose eventually.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are the front view diagram and the side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by using the belt driven on the dual guiding rails respectively according to one embodiment of the present invention. As FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 shown, the present invention includes a light box 10 (including a light box top coverage 11, a light box side plate 12, and a light box base 13), the nonlinear motion sets 100 and 200, a rotation set 70. And a 3D-turntable 14 is configured inside the light box 10. The curved symmetrical dual guiding rails include a right top guiding rail 91, a right bottom guiding rail 92, a left top guiding rail 93 and a left bottom guiding rail 94 which are configured on the main frames 80A and 80B, and the main frames 80A and 80B are enforced by the strengthen elbows 81, 82. In addition, the two ends of the main frames 80A, 80B are covered and connected by the conjunction plates 95, 96, and the left/right side of the main frames 80A, 80B are covered by the side plates 83, 84 and the whole nonlinear motion sets are fixed by the conjunction plate 97 onto the light box 10.

Referring to the FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 again, a cartridge 60 carries a rotation set 70 on the symmetrical nonlinear motion sets 100, 200 to perform the nonlinear motion which is driven by a motor 110 and transmits the idle wheels 111, 112 by a belt 151. Then, the idle wheel 112 drives a linkage rod 113 to transmit the main drive pulleys 101, 201 and all of the idle wheels (only shown from the right side of the idle wheels 121 to 131 on the FIG. 2) by the belts 152, 154 and idle pulleys 102, 202. Therefore, the image capture device 30 performs the nonlinear motion from top shots to the side shots, wherein the motor 110 can be a stepping motor or a servo motor.

Accordingly, referring to the FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 again. As the main drive pulley 101 is activated, the idle pulley 102 is driven by the belt 152 through the idle wheels 121, 122, 123, 124, 125. Then, the belt 152 is transmitted back to the main drive pulleys 101 thorough the idle wheels 126, 127, 128, 129, 130 and 131 to form the torque transmission structure as a close loop.

According to the spirits of the present invention, the idle pulley 121 is an adjustable idle wheel that can adjust the tension of the belt. The belt 152 is fixed with a screw (not shown) on a collar 63 of the cartridge 60, and the collar 63 clips a dragging rod 64. Therefore, when the main drive pulley 101 is activated, the cartridge 60 is dragged to perform a nonlinear motion among the right top guiding rail 91, the right bottom guiding rail 92, the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94. In addition, the dual guiding rails may be in the shape of a round arc, or a parabolic, or a combination of round arc and parabolic, or a combination of the round arc, parabolic and straight line shape. Moreover, the belt 152 may be replaced by the cables or the ropes to drive the image capture device 30 to perform a nonlinear motion by the motor 110.

FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram illustrating a cartridge and the rollers thereon according to one embodiment of the present invention. The rollers 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and the rollers 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B are configured at the two sides of cartridge 60 separately. Next, referring to the FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the rollers 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and the rollers 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B have the V shape or Λ shape contact with the right top guiding rail 91, the right bottom guiding rail 92, the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94 separately. When the cartridge 60 at the curved position L1 and L2, the rollers 2A, 5A, 6A contact with the right top guiding rail 91 and the right bottom guiding rail 92. Meanwhile, the rollers 2B, 5B, 6B contact with the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94. Next, when the cartridge 60 moves the position from the curved shape to the straight line shape of the guiding rail (the cartridge 60 is on the position L3 and L4), a guiding plate 67 guides the rollers into 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and rollers 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B gradually, which have the V shape or Λ shape to contact with the right top guiding rail 91, the right bottom guiding rail 92, the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94 respectively. Additional, the escape guiding slots 65, 66 penetrate the right top guiding rail 91, the right bottom guiding rail 92, the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94 to provide the collar 63 and the dragging rod 64 being extended to connect with the belt 152. Therefore, the cartridge 60 can perform the nonlinear and linear motion among the L1, L2, L3 and L4. When the cartridge 60 performs round arc and linear motion between the right top guiding rail 91, the right bottom guiding rail 92, the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94, once the cartridge 60 moves to the limited position, the optical sensors 77, 78 must detect to stop the rotation motion of the motor 110.

Next, when the rotation set 70 is activated, the motor 210 inside the cartridge 60 drives the idle wheels 211 and transmits the idle wheel 212 by a belt 153, then a compartment 71 is driven to provide the image capture device 30 being rotated. Furthermore, the compartment 71 is set a pad 72 to mount with the image capture device 30, and the compartment 71 has a through hole (not shown) to allow a lens 31 being extended out from the through hole. On the other hand, the image capture device 30 is fixed by a fasten velcro 73, and the compartment 71 can be simplified as a rotatable bottom-plate (not shown) of the cartridge 60. One head, a rotation shift 74 of the compartment 71 controls the rotating angle by a optical sensor 76, which detects the holes (not shown) of a lighting block disk 75 to control the tilt angle thereby.

In addition, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are respectively the front view diagram and side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside the light box by using gravity force on the dual guiding rails according to another embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are similar with the FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the two sides of the nonlinear motion sets 100 and 200 are eliminated, and the cartridge 60 and rotation set 70 are remained from one embodiment. Next, referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, wherein the two sides of the cartridge 60 have the rollers 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and the rollers 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B to contact with the right top guiding rail 91, the right bottom guiding rail 92, the left top guiding rail 93 and the left bottom guiding rail 94 dragged downward by the gravity force. And, the motor 310 drives the drive pulley 311 and idle pulley 312 winding the steel wire 313 at the drive pulley 311 thereby.

Accordingly, the nonlinear guiding rail could be either the dual nonlinear or the mono guiding rail shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, which are the front view diagram and side view diagram respectively illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside a light box by overhead hanging under a mono guiding rail according to another embodiment of the present invention. As FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 shown, a cartridge 240 is hanged under the nonlinear mono guiding rail 250 with T shape, and the two sides of the cartridge 240 have the rollers 241, 242, 243, 244, 245 and 246 to configure on the mono guiding rail 250. Meanwhile, according to the spirit of the present invention, the rollers or sliding blocks can be a single one or in a row arrangement to configure at the cartridge to perform the nonlinear motion.

FIG. 9 is a side view diagram illustrating the nonlinear movement and tilt angle control structure of an image capture device inside the light box by side extended of a mono guiding rail according to the present invention. FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 3, and a single side of the mono guiding rail 270 is adopted only. One side of a cartridge 260 is configured the rollers 261, 262, 263 to set on the mono guiding rail 270 for performing the nonlinear motion that is driven by the belt (not shown), wherein the rollers 261, 262, 263 are arranged in a triangular form. If the rollers in straight line arrangement, one row of the rollers is needed to set on the same side of the cartridge 260 at upper and lower position to contact with the top/bottom side of the mono guiding rail 270 separately.

To make a summarization, the present invention not only provides a nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure but also focusing on the balancing design from the symmetry of dual guiding rails, and the cartridge is also configured thereon. Although, the nonlinear motion is more difficult to design, but the nonlinear guiding rails can load more heavier image capture device, cartridge, and compartment thereof. And, the nonlinear motion set only use one single rotation shaft to achieve the movement from top shots to side shots. Thus, the automatic nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure can be the core technology in photography automation. Then, the general users can benefit from the present invention of its economic and durability to prevail the technology into different areas.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, a specific example thereof has been shown in the drawings and is herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the particular form disclosed, but to the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 

1. A nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box, comprising: a light box; a nonlinear motion set configured in the light box, and the nonlinear motion set arranged in a symmetric way of the curved dual guiding rails to provide the image capture device from top shots to side shots; a rotation set configured for rotating the image capture device; a cartridge configured to carry the rotation set and being driven by the nonlinear motion set to perform a nonlinear motion; and a compartment configured in the rotation set to sit and fasten the image capture device.
 2. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 1, wherein the curved dual guiding rails are in round arc, or parabolic, or a combination of the round arc and the parabolic, or a combination of the round arc, the parabolic and a straight line shape.
 3. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 1, wherein the nonlinear motion set comprise the curved dual guiding rails, a plurality of idle wheels and a plurality of rollers to drive the cartridge by at least one belt, one cable or one rope, and the cartridge performs the nonlinear motion by a motor or the gravity force.
 4. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 1, wherein the compartment is configured with a pad and a fasten velcro.
 5. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 1, wherein the compartment is a rotatable bottom plate of the cartridge.
 6. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 3, wherein the shape of the rollers have a V shape or a Λ shape to contact with the dual guiding rails.
 7. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 1 further comprising a 3D-turntable inside the light box.
 8. A nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box, comprising: a light box; a nonlinear motion set configured in the light box, and the nonlinear motion set arranged a mono guiding rail to provide the image capture device from top shots to side shots; a rotation set configured for rotating the image capture device; a cartridge configured to carry the rotation set and being driven by the nonlinear motion set to perform a nonlinear motion; and a compartment configured in the rotation set to sit and fasten the image capture device.
 9. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 8, wherein the cartridge is hanged at the bottom of the mono guiding rail for providing the cartridge from top shots to side shots thereby.
 10. The nonlinear motion and tilt angle control structure for an image capture device inside a light box according to the claim 8, wherein the cartridge is hanged on the one side of the mono guiding rail. 